


each child still knows

by curiouslyfic



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 10:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8664730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiouslyfic/pseuds/curiouslyfic
Summary: It still breaks Scott's heart a bit to see the kids who have nowhere else to go for the holiday break. He deals with this by oversharing.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Martianico](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Martianico/gifts).



The kids start complaining they want a story or something between one cocoa batch and the next and Hank leaves Scott to it, mock-salutes from the door and slips away laughing like Scott won’t know he’s been abandoned. 

Not a lot of kids this year; not like last year, maybe six or seven if he doesn’t count the ones old enough to choose for themselves how they want to spend their holidays. It still bothers Scott to see the little ones who don’t have anyplace else to be but it helps, he thinks, that some kids choose to stay there, that the ones who do all seem to be making their own families as they go. 

Still breaks his heart a bit to see that look in his kids’ eyes and watch them bleed a bit all over again when they remember just why they’re still at school, but he’s made reluctant peace with the fact that he can’t do anything to change it. 

Even the Professor’s best intentions can’t do a damned thing to mend this kind of mutant-human relations. 

So Scott bites back the urge to send the kids flocking after Hank, finds a smile instead and rubs his palms in thought. Finds a story he thinks they might like. 

It’s always been one of his favourites. 

. 

Logan’s deeply suspicious by Wednesday, worked up to the kind of paranoia that says some point soon, Logan’s going claws-out on _someone_ , and while Scott will happily admit he still gets a kick out of watching Logan sniff his way around the school, no one wants a repeat of the Missing Molson Incident of ’94. 

“Something bothering you, Logan?” Scott asks, as strategically bland as he can, and when Logan’s gaze snaps up to him, Scott bites back a grin.  
Scott has a lot of practice repressing shit in the name of leadership. It’s come in handy at home, as well. 

Logan hesitates. “You notice anything weird about the kids?” 

Nothing besides the giggling, which Scott is not going to mention until Logan does, because they are school kids on winter break; there are a hundred reasons they could be giggling their way through the halls, and Scott refuses to give Logan any _ideas_. 

Logan thinks this over. “No, that’s not it.” 

Partway through explaining his growing certainty that the kids are all laughing at him behind his back, Logan trails off and makes a face like he’s only just now realizing how ridiculous that sounds. 

Scott considers egging him on, _what, the kids, why would they_ in that same guileless tone Logan uses when he skips out with Scott’s Kawasaki without asking, but Scott maybe thinks too long because Logan turns all that gruff suspicion on _him_ , and - well, Scott’s got a weakness. Doesn’t think he’ll ever get over how much he likes having Logan hot and bristling and non-verbal, close enough to touch. 

Watching Scott like he’s prey, like they both don’t know how fair that fight gets when Scott decides to play dirty. 

“What aren’t you saying,” Logan says, voice rough enough that Scott licks his lip instinctively. Logan’s eyes narrow, fixate on Scott’s mouth and pull out that smile Scott’s been trying to smother. “Slim.” 

“Nothing,” Scott says, like that makes it true; and, “Story time,” shrugging, and when Logan makes that little noise at the back of his throat that used to get Warren all wound up, Scott holds up both hands. He does his best to look as Boy Scout as his reputation. “Hey,” he says as Logan’s shoulders relax a little, “they asked.” 

He can _see_ the moment Logan works it out. Has a moment to enjoy that speechless floundering before Logan’s coming at him, tackling him so they’re both sprawling over the couch, sticking too close for Scott to do anything more than try to squirm himself loose. 

“Slim, you promised,” Logan says, and he’s everywhere, heat and hair and muscle, that intractable strength everyone else thinks defines him. They’re wrong, Scott knows, proves it to both of them by touching his mouth to the edge of Logan’s jaw just to hear the way Logan’s breathless for a moment, feel the way he stills reflexively like anything else might make it stop. 

Not that it distracts Logan for long, of course, but it still _does_ , and Scott likes the reminder. 

Scott lets himself slip on a wave of affection, finds himself bucking his hips up in response when Logan tries to pin him down. Logan’s voice catches when Scott does it long and slow, which stutters Logan’s complaints. Which is kind of a shame, really, because Scott does enjoy hearing Logan bitch about nothing. “You said wear it _once_ , Slim, said it’d be _polite_ , didn’t say there’d be _pictures_.” 

“Poor baby,” Scott coos, and he takes the sting out of his laughter by cupping Logan’s face in a palm, tugging him down to plant another kiss on his jaw, stealing the time to nuzzle in while he can. “C’mere, lemme kiss it better.” 

“Wrong room for that,” Logan mutters, but he doesn’t pull away. Turns his face in towards Scott’s, finds Scott’s mouth for the best kind of kiss — light and lippy, easy and soft, so familiar and comfortable it makes Scott melt a little every time. 

Scott will never, ever get tired of Logan Howlett and the boring, married kisses. Just not happening. 

Someday, when the world sucks less, Scott’s going to make it legal. 

“Easy enough to fix that,” Scott murmurs. Keeps his voice low so it’s private, just for them, can’t quite resist the urge to keep touching while he can, happily handsy as long as Logan lets him be. “You wanna take this upstairs?” 

They’ve got a room upstairs, one no one else in this building is going anywhere near until morning or Armageddon, and as much as Scott’s comfortable here on the couch, he thinks he’d rather have Logan in their bed - somewhere they can take their time. 

Because maybe Logan hates this story but it’s one of Scott’s favourites for a reason. 

Logan snorts at Scott’s eyebrow waggling, more resigned than annoyed. “Still pretty pissed at you, bub.” 

“Let me make it up to you?” Scott offers, and he must be living right or something because Logan nods. 

. 

“I looked like an idiot,” Logan says and he only shuts up because Scott presses his fingertips to Logan’s mouth, lifts a brow over his glasses until Logan’s willing to play docile. 

“Hottest thing you’ve ever done,” Scott corrects. Wishes Logan could see his eyes just once without the lenses, because maybe that’s the reason Logan never fully believes him, that he can’t see the truth in Scott’s eyes. Scott’s been using everything else at his disposal to try to get through to him, tone and touch and body language, even gets scent because it’s Logan, but they’re three years in on whatever this is going to be and Logan still gets prickly-defensive every time Scott brings up the appeal of Logan’s giant heart. 

So fuck it, maybe Scott needs to be more blunt about it, because Scott gets all these amazing moments of Logan being like this, all the family Scott gives a shit about safe and warm and _happy_ , and when he tries to share them with his partner, Logan still expects to get hurt.  
Like there’s some part of him that still thinks Scott’s going to start inflicting damage, too. 

“Baby,” Scott says soothingly, holds Logan’s face in his hands, close enough that he can feel Logan’s unsteady breath against his mouth. “ _Sweetheart_ , it’s not what you did, s’ why you did it.” Scott draws a deep breath, blows it out in a rush. “You made sure every kid in the place had some good memories of what would otherwise have been a really shitty time of year. Maybe you don’t think that’s a big deal but _I_ do.” In for a penny, Scott thinks, and makes himself keep going, root this in something he knows Logan understands. “I mean, you’re hot like burning and you know it, but _that_ , man, that’s something else, you know? And I can’t…how was I supposed to keep my hands off that?” 

“I put on an elf suit and took a few Polaroids, Slim, I didn’t cure cancer.” Logan snorts again, looks uncomfortable in his own skin. “Anyone could’ve done it.” 

“Not everyone _would_. And it means something to me — means a lot, actually — that you did.” 

Because yeah, all right, maybe Logan dressing up a little to distribute the kids’ gifts wasn’t much in the grander scale of things, but the elf ears had been adorable and with the rest of the faculty all messed up from a run-in with the Purifiers, Logan had been the only adult around in any position to do anything with the kids. 

It is always gonna break Scott’s heart a little bit to see his students’ faces fall when they realize they won’t be going home for the holidays, and it is always going to melt his heart a little to see anyone try to make that better. 

Logan leans forward, rests his temple on Scott’s forehead and shuts his eyes, like he needs to breathe deep a moment to pull himself together, like maybe he needs to just _be_. 

“You gotta stop telling people,” he says, considerably shakier than he’s been all right. “Not right, giving people expectations.” 

Scott huffs a dry laugh. “Biggest heart I know and you’re still so damned sure you don’t want anyone to know it,” Scott mutters into his hairline, feels Logan’s hand flex on his shirt. “I’ll stop telling people about it if it means that much to you but don’t ask me to be sorry I’ve told our kids about it, all right? It’s the thing I loved about you first.” 

.

Nobody mentions the way the tackling turns into cuddling, but maybe nobody has to. 

And if anyone thinks it’s strange to see Logan hanging around the holiday kids the next day, inciting them into a snowball fight that turns into a rebellion, stealing glances at Scott every chance he can, well, nobody mentions that, either. 

 

~f~


End file.
